Oxford NOT JUST for the rich

[sieglinde]

I was fascinated by this. Oxford is in fact only 12th in this list of unis for the rich, measured by the number of students with student loans.

Unis which are often seen as Sturdier and More Sensible - Nottingham, Glasgow, Manchester - actually have a higher proportion of rich students.

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/8882007/Universities-with-the-richest-students-or-parents.html?image=11

3boys, I wouldn't advise doing an open application for the reasons yellow says. Let him think what he would like best - a larger college or a smaller one; newer or older architecture; more or less formal; can you live in all years (if that is important to you); near to the centre or outlying? Are kitchen amenities important to you? If cost is important there is a variation in accomodation/meal costs so research that too. All of this can be gleaned from the prospectus/alternative prospectus and should narrow the field quite a bit - then check subject numbers and try & visit & meet the tutors and preferably book to stay the night at your favoured college for an open day.

Good luck.

funnyperson Thanks for replying.
I don't have any children in high school yet.
I am an Asian, living in UK for the last two decades and must admit the school system,admission and college admission etc., is mind boggling.
How can you show that you have a vision and could see a broader picture over and above other very very bright children?
I hate when people through the race card when things don't to their way.

Mansfield is indeed lovely, welcoming and pleasant, but in my subject it attracts fewer first-choice applicants than many others, I imagine because few people even know it is there!

My point was simply that people USED to say that e.g it or Catz or Keble or St Peter's were easier to get into, and this is no longer the case because of the reallocation and second-choice interview system. ALL those colleges are excellent for my subject, so I mean no disrespect. Quite the opposite.

Things that I looked at (or should have looked at) when deciding which (Cambridge) college to apply to:-

Usual offer given - based on 4A-levels or 3. Do you need As. will you get As? Personally I would rather get rejected in January than August so I went for a college that gave (relatively) low offers but it was hard to get an offer in the first place.

Proportion of state school in the college. If you are worried about balls etc then go for one with a high %age of state school.

Size of college and size of your subject - do you want to be one of 2 geographers or one of 8 or one of 40?

No of applicants per place?

Do you want to go to a women's only college?

Distance of college from town / where your subject is based? I used to be able to get out of bed at 8:55 and still make 9am lectures.

How sporty / musical your college is and you are. Even if you are sporty you may not want to go to a sporty college though - I was on the first team for about 8 sports at my college just for turning up and owning a pair of trainers....

How old (and therefore rich) the college is - more hardship funds at the rich ones.

Having said that on many levels it doesn't really matter. You will love your college as it will be your home. One of my friends had all sorts of sensible logical reasons for applying to our college. It was only when we were in second year and she was showing us them in the prospectus that she realised that she had Mis-read the chart and applied to the wrong one!